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Friends of the Gateway Region,
With a $100,000 planning grant from GO Virginia, the Gateway Region has critical new resources to identify new industrial sites. This is important because, when we look at the market it reveals a growing need for industrial properties that have access to large amounts of power. Because one of the signature strengths of GO Virginia is that it is business-led, GO Virginia is very response to provide incentives – like this grant – to build strong, focused collaborations among the three sectors of private industry, education and government which allows VGR to sustain our shared mission to strengthen economic opportunity in every community.
This comes in tandem with the launch of a busy operations season for our team, as we take the message of opportunities across our now-expanded region on the road. On Sept. 8, we arrive in Chicago for our first trip, FABTECH, which is focused on the future of advanced manufacturing. In the year ahead, we’ll cross-cross the nation to market VGR with decision makers in targeted industries, including biomedical production, data center, agricultural technology and more. Our dozen strategic destinations include two trips to Europe and one to Canada, as international markets are integral to our long-term success. Many trips are coordinated with representatives from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and many of our local economic development officers join us on select programs.
We also are in the early stages of our next five-year strategic plan. We are currently meeting with our stakeholder community to evaluate our previous strategic plan and gather input for our next one. Some of the topics we are discussing are an evaluation of our industry targets, opportunities to improve our service delivery, and how to measure effectively what we do. One of our goals is to be the best partner for our nine-community members, and revisiting and improving what we focus on does just that.
Finally, with any strategic plan there is a need to consider improving how VGR is supported financially. We value our stakeholders and strive to provide them with a meaningful return on investment. Because VGR’s focus is squarely on providing value to our investors, we plan to offer a number of new opportunities for our investors to grow with us as we launch our 2026-2030 strategic plan. So please stay tuned as we work on and out our strategic planning efforts this fall.
Keith Boswell
President & CEO
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